Memories for Memorial Day

I remember as a little girl that Dad would pack us all up and take us to West Virginia. The holiday was never called Memorial Day there--it was Decoration Day. That's because as a family (and it was A HUGE!! family) we would all spread out through the woods gathering flowers and ferns and placing them in buckets. Then we would go to the cemetery on top of the mountain and hunt out all of the family plots of our veterans and plant the flowers and ferns and generally clean up all of the graves. If we had extra money to buy small flags, those were positioned in front of the tombstones.

I'd like to salute the members of my family that have served:

Dad--Robert Alvin Patrick, Sr.--US Marine Corps--WWII Pacific theater
Mom--Wilma Beatrice Ellison Patrick--US Navy WAVs--WWII New York City
Brother--Robert Alvin Patrick, Jr.--US Army--Berlin Wall, Germany
BIL--Richard Steven Hines, II--US Army--Panama, Guatemala, South American Conflicts
"Son"--John Lilley--US Navy--Atlantic and Middle East areas

Thanks to all of the veterans for taking time out of your life to stand for the greatest country on earth!!!